Hunger Strike Begins Over Garbage Plant

SAO PAULO, Brazil — A Brazilian mayor began a hunger strike Wednesday because bureaucrats will not let his town recycle its garbage, a spokeswoman for the mayor said.

She said that Mayor Gilson Meneses of Diadema, near Sao Paulo, had been seeking permission for the past year to operate an almost completed recycling plant.

"The state government is asking for more and more papers and this could go on for ever. That's why the mayor is going on hunger strike. He won't eat until he gets a permit for the plant to operate," she said.